Beer and Buns – The Place to go for Japanese Beer in London

Beer and Buns specialty are fluffly steamed hirata buns with pork belly filling or huge Korean style chicken wings. The Japanese call this ‘Izakaya‘, a casual dining experience, which is apparently a bit like a gastropub.

I adore sweet potato fries and these buns, and it’s food that sits perfectly well with the kick ass beer list and decor.

The beer list is special. There are about 4 or 5 pages filled with ONLY Japanese craft beer.

On tap, there’s the usual and reliable Asahi Dry, but there’s also Hitachino Nest White Ale. This is a fantastic wheat beer, and tasting this for the first time made me take note of beer from the east. As well as the superb labels on the beers, the team at Hitachino Nest know what they are doing. Try the Dai Dai Ale, a really fruity IPA.

After a few bottles of those there are also some fussball and pinball tables to get stuck into with your mates.

Beer and buns is open Thursday and Friday lunchtime/evening and is situated above the K10 sushi bar. K10 have a few other spots around Liverpool Street and Moorgate serving up excellent lunchtime sushi and katsu curries.

If you like the sound of this, also be sure to check out Flesh and Buns, which is near Covent Garden. Slightly pricier, but it has a more varied menu with a higher quality of cooking at the expense of less exciting beer list.